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5 J. Democracy 55 (1994)
Delegative Democracy

handle is hein.journals/jnlodmcy5 and id is 53 raw text is: DELEGATIVE DEMOCRACY
Guillermo O'Donnell
Guillermo O'Donnell, an Argentine political scientist, is Helen Kellogg
Professor of International Studies and Academic Director of the Kellogg
Institute of International Studies at the University of Notre Dame. His
books include Modernization and Bureaucratic-Authoritarianism (1979);
Bureaucratic-Authoritarianism: Argentina, 1966-1973, in Comparative
Perspective (1988); and, with Philippe Schmitter and Laurence
Whitehead, Transitions from Authoritarian Rule (1986).
Here I depict a new species, a type of existing democracies that has
yet to be theorized. As often happens, it has many similarities with
other, already recognized species, with cases shading off between the
former and some variety of the latter. Still, I believe that the differences
are significant enough to warrant an attempt at such a depiction. The
drawing of neater boundaries between these types of democracy depends
on empirical research, as well as more refined analytical work that I am
now undertaking. But if I really have found a new species (and not a
member of an already recognized family, or a form too evanescent to
merit conceptualization), it may be worth exploring its main features.
Scholars  who  have  worked   on  democratic transitions  and
consolidation have repeatedly said that, since it would be wrong to
assume that these processes all culminate in the same result, we need
a typology of democracies. Some interesting efforts have been made,
focused on the consequences, in terms of types of democracy and policy
patterns, of various paths to democratization.' My own ongoing research
suggests, however, that the more decisive factors for generating various
kinds of democracy are not related to the characteristics of the
preceding authoritarian regime or to the process of transition. Instead,
I believe that we must focus upon various long-term historical factors,
as well as the degree of severity of the socioeconomic problems that
newly installed democratic governments inherit.
Let me briefly state the main points of my argument: 1) Existing

Journal of Democracy Vol. 5, No. 1 January 1994

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